RECIPE MAGIC!

Tomato, cheese, ham, bacon and eggs. Sounds like breakfast, right? Not to millions of Australians who know the combo by its classic name: Aussie Pizza. The "Aussie" was invented by the late Salvatore Della Bruna, the Picasso of Australia's pizza heritage who established this country's first pizza parlour. The pie definitely crosses boundaries, enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or Friday night!

INGREDIENTS:

1 fresh pizza dough (store-bought or homemade) for 2 x 10" to 12" pizzas
1/2 cup fresh Australian EVOO (or fresh substitute)
1 cup BBQ sauce, not too sweet
1-1/2 cup grated mozzarella
4 thin slices of peameal bacon cut into 1-inch pieces, cooked or 4 slices of regular bacon, cooked
2 to 3 eggs
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup fresh arugula (optional)
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional, for topping)
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 500°, the highest temperature possible. Place rack in lower position. If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven while preheating or use inverted rimmed baking sheet. Preheat for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough in half and cover one half while making the first one. Working with one piece of the dough at a time, place it on a large piece of floured parchment. Use hands or a rolling pin to flatten the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick or less. If the dough starts to shrink back, let it rest for 5 minutes and then continue rolling. 

Use half the topping ingredients for each pizza. Brush dough with EVOO for flavour and to prevent it from getting soggy. Spread the BBQ sauce evenly over the pizza dough. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly over the BBQ sauce. Scatter the bacon, thinly sliced red onion and half the arugula on top of the cheese. Carefully crack eggs onto pizza toppings, placing them evenly to cut the pizza without breaking yolks. Add remaining arugula. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Gently slide the pizza off the parchment paper directly onto pizza stone or inverted baking sheet. Crack each egg and place it onto pizza, careful not to break the yolk. Each egg should be over 1/4 or 1/3 of the pizza to make it evenly distributed. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden and the egg whites are set but the yolks are still slightly runny. Transfer the pizza to a cooling rack and let cool slightly, just until you're able to handle it. Transfer to a cutting board, slice into pieces, and serve. Repeat making a second pizza with the remaining dough, cheese, and toppings.